The Mass Times Acceleration Between Us
by SJK09
Summary: Alfred F. Jones is a fairly well-liked high school kid who gets stuck with a physics lab partner who's know-it-all Ivan Braginsky. Will they ever get along, or might there be more than that? [RusAme fanfic. Rating may change to M.]
1. Chapter 1

_I haven't written a fanfiction in a very long time so I'm pretty rusty, but I thought I might try it again. Constructive criticism/reviews are welcome! Yes the title is really lame, but physics jokes :D._

Alfred opened his eyes. Then he shut them again.

 _First day of sophomore year_ , he thought.

Since you didn't have to quite worry about college and you were already used to the setting of high school, sophomore year was the eye of the hurricane.

Alfred reluctantly sat up in his bed, trying to rub the sleep out of his eyes.

"Morning Alfred."

His brother, Matthew, was at the doorway of Alfred's room, already awake and brushing his teeth.

"Yeah hey." Alfred said. With a grunt, he stood up and made his way to the bathroom. He stared at his blurry reflection as his toothbrush vigorously brushed his teeth. He definitely wasn't in the mood to go to school. He only had the football and baseball season to look forward to, and maybe, just maybe, a class or two that actually captures his interest. He doubted it.

When Alfred was all dressed, he went downstairs to eat breakfast. He was greeted with burnt pancakes and an annoying beeping noise.

"Daaaaaad! Let Matt do the pancakes, pleeeaaase." Alfred groaned and rolled his eyes at his dad who was desperately trying to turn off the smoke alarm.

"I'm just trying to do something special for your first day of school!" His dad was on a step ladder, angrily hitting the smoke alarm. He ended up hurting his hand. "Ouch!"

Matthew cringed and tried to calm his dad down.

"Ughhhhh! I'll just go to the school cafeteria." Alfred grabbed his backpack and reached for the front door. "Matt we're gonna be late!"

"Bye dad!" Matthew quickly said, giving an apologetic smile to his father, who was still clutching his hand. He joined Alfred outside.

Alfred took a bite out of a soggy waffle from the school cafeteria as he walked to his first class.

"Hey Alfred!" Gilbert Beilschmidt, Alfred's teammate and close friend, waved to him from across the hallway.

Alfred smiled and ran up to him. "I haven't seen you in forever, dude!" Alfred exclaimed. He gave a nod to Gilbert's brother, Ludwig, who stood beside them.

"Yeah, man! I'm so pumped for this season! We're gonna kick ass!" Gilbert punched the air and grinned. "Especially since we got 'The Hero' on our team."

Alfred laughed at the nickname his football teammates gave him during his freshman year. "Psh whatever du-"Alfred was cut off by the bell.

"Oh shit! We need to go to class!" Gilbert cursed and waved to Alfred as he ran, who was already sprinting away to his class.

Alfred burst into his first class, physics. He immediately sat in the only empty chair, silently cursing under his breath.

"I'm presuming you are Mr. Jones?" The teacher looked at her clipboard and at him in a disapproving manner.

"Yeah. Sorry I was running late." Alfred nervously said.

"Mhm. Well, since it is the first day, I will excuse your tardiness. But be warned Mr. Jones, I will not hesitate to send tardy students to detention." The teacher said, setting her clipboard down. Alfred nodded.

"Moving on, my name is Mrs. Gallagher and I will be your physics teacher for this year. We will be learning…" Alfred drowned out Mrs. Gallagher's dull voice and looked around the classroom, not getting a good look around before. There were several windows on one wall that let the morning light into the room. Textbooks were neatly stacked on top of a counter in one corner. Each table was set up for a pair of students to sit at. Wait, who was sitting next to him?

Alfred nearly jumped out of his seat. He considered himself to be on the tall side, but the student sitting next to him was almost a head taller. What was more perplexing was the long scarf that hung around his shoulders, partially covering the student's face. But that scarf wasn't big enough to cover the giant nose. In all honesty, Alfred had never seen anyone with a nose so large. The student was slightly squinting his eyes in concentration at the teacher in front of him.

"As I pass out the syllabus, you may get to talk to your partner next to you. They will be your lab partner for the rest of the year."

Suddenly, the mysterious student turned towards Alfred with a look of discontent. His eyes scanned the boy in front of him. Those unsettling, violet eyes.

"Er. Hey! I'm Alfred F. Jones." Alfred tried his best smile. A dazzling, white smile that absolutely no one could resist, or so he thought.

The student didn't change his expression. "Yes. Jones. I heard from Mrs. Gallagher." He had a noticeable accent. Russian? He turned back, facing the front of the classroom.

Alfred frowned. That smile always seemed to work on people to loosen up. "At least tell me your name, Mr. KGB."

The student slowly turned his head, now with a face of disgust. "If you really must know, I am Ivan Braginsky." Ivan paused. "I know it is difficult for your kind of mind to wrap around this, but I am here because I happen to _like_ science. I am not letting a person like _you_ bring my grade down, Jones."

Mrs. Gallagher came to their table and passed out two packets. Ivan immediately opened up one of the syllabuses and began reading.

 _Fucking rude much?_ Alfred thought. He huffed in annoyance, grabbing a syllabus. He got to be stuck with a stuck-up, giant nosed Russian kid for the rest of the year!

 _Ivan thinks he's so smart, huh?_ Alfred aggressively opened up to the first page. _I'll show him you don't mess with The Hero!_

The rest of Alfred's classes before lunch passed by unceremoniously. He met up with his group of friends during lunchtime. Their table was the loudest compared to everyone else's. Gilbert was flicking chunks of mashed potato at his angry brother, Ludwig. Yong Soo was attempting to balance a glass of water on his head while Alfred recorded on his phone. Matthew, next to Yong Soo, silently prayed the water wouldn't spill on him. Arthur and Francis were off in their own world, bickering about who knows what.

"That's it!" Ludwig grabbed his lunch tray and stormed off to sit somewhere else. Gilbert laughed and reached after his brother. "Hey wait!" Gilbert made a half-hearted attempt to stop his brother and ended up bursting into laughter again.

"Yong Soo that thing is gonna fall!" Alfred shouted with fake concern, slightly pushing Yong Soo. The cup wobbled on Yong Soo's head, the water sloshing back and forth. Matthew sighed and decided to move somewhere else.

"Hey you can't do that!" Yong Soo nearly whined as he tried to settle the cup.

Arthur turned to face the two. "Will you two be more mature?" He huffed with annoyance, crossing his arms.

"I agree." Francis voiced, smoothly sliding an arm around Arthur. This set the two into another quarrel.

"Whatever dude." Alfred turned back to his lunch and gobbled down his hamburger in an impressive three bites. He chugged a carton of milk and made a sideways glance. He laid his eyes on the table that Ivan was sitting at. There was a pale, scary-looking girl next him. Slightly further away were three freshmen, their heads down, eating their lunch silently. Across from Ivan was Yao, Yong Soo's cousin.

"Hey what's your cousin doing with that jerk face Russ-"Alfred yelped and jumped up from his seat. The cup of water had spilled all over Alfred's crotch.

"DUDE! In that spot, too?" Alfred yelled, attracting the attention of the whole cafeteria. Yong Soo, Francis, and Gilbert were howling with laughter. Even Arthur let out a stifled chuckle. Alfred glanced back at Ivan's table and was met with the same disgusted look that Ivan had given him during physics. Alfred cursed and ran to the bathroom.

"Fuck. Now I really have to show him I'm not stupid." Alfred said, knitting his eyebrows together. He bent into an awkward stance under the air dryer, trying to dry the wet spot in his pants.

"Show who?"

Alfred turned around to lock his blue eyes with purple ones.


	2. Chapter 2

"What are you doing here? Were you following me?!" Alfred jumped back in surprise, pressing his back against the wall.

"What do you think people usually do in a restroom?" Ivan stood over Alfred, raising an eyebrow. His expression was difficult to read.

Alfred stood a little taller, trying to regain his confidence. He was a little taken back by the other's response. "I uh you-"he sputtered.

"You believe that I have followed you?" Ivan scoffed. "It may come as a surprise, but you are not as interesting as you think you are, Jones. Also, nothing you do will assist in raising my opinion of you." With that, Ivan turned around and disappeared into a stall.

Alfred simply stood there, shocked by Ivan's blunt reply. "Oh yeah?! Then prepare to be proved wrong!" Alfred shouted. His words echoed throughout the bathroom. He was answered with silence. "And-and you're messing with the hero!"

Alfred fled the bathroom, pride slightly hurt.

Truthfully, Ivan didn't need to go to the bathroom. His back rested against the door of the stall and he let out a deep sigh. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. Why had he followed Alfred? There was no doubt that Ivan thought that Alfred was stupid, and he had no tolerance for stupid people. Why was he here?

Ivan unlocked the stall and walked over to the sinks. He turned a faucet and let the water filter through his fingers. He studied his own reflection in the grimy mirror. Dark circles hung heavily beneath his eyes. For a moment, he imagined bright blue reflecting off the whites of his eyes.

He splashed cold water against his pale face and turned off the faucet. He let drops of water slide down his face.

He convinced himself that he came here to wash his hands.

Alfred jerked awake at the sound of the bell ringing. He hurriedly grabbed his backpack and exited his math class. He made his way across the school to the gymnasium. No one liked P.E., but for Alfred, it was much better than sitting in a class bored out of his mind.

All the seventh period sophomores in gym were chattering away as the teacher entered the door.

"QUIET!" the teacher shouted. His voice echoed as the students turned to him. "Alright! I'm Mr. Miller. It's the first day, so we're not gonna do anything, but you need your gym clothes by tomorrow! I need to cover some units we'll go over throughout the year so keep your mouths shut!"

Even Alfred, who shouted a lot, thought Mr. Miller yelled way too much.

"We'll be starting this year off with a waltz unit-"Everyone groaned and some giggled. "I said shut up! Then we'll be going into cross country, a little ultimate Frisbee, soccer, basketball, and hockey. There will be some health units in between the year. Any questions?" Mr. Miller scanned the crowd of students for any raised hands. "Good! You now have free time before school ends." Mr. Miller waved his hand and retired to the bleachers.

Alfred looked for people he knew as the students dispersed. He spotted Arthur scowling at everyone.

"Arthur!" Alfred ran up to Arthur. "Is there anyone else we know?"

"Hello Alfred." Arthur said, squirming a bit at Alfred's close proximity. "Not that I know of. And can you back up?"

"Yeah whatever dude." Alfred took a few steps back, looking around the gym. He recognized a few people, like Elizabeta and Feliciano, but he didn't really talk to them. Just then, he recognized a certain giant Russian.

"UGHHHHHHH!" Alfred let out a large, exasperated groan, leaning on Arthur. "That jerk dude is here!" As if one class was not enough with that guy!

"What did I say about personal space?" Arthur complained in an irritated voice, trying to push Alfred off, but he was weaker than him. "And who?"

Alfred narrowed his eyes at Ivan, who didn't seem to know of the other's presence. "That-that Ivan dude. Big and Russian." Alfred mentally stuck a tongue out in Ivan's direction.

"Ivan?" Arthur questioned, and then shuddered. "Oh him. I've heard some distasteful rumors about him. I doubt most of them are true, but he is quite… scary-looking." The two blonds looked at Ivan leaned against a wall, alone. Their gazes broke when the last bell of the day rang.

"Off to practice, Artie!" Alfred chirped and sprinted to the lockers. Unknowing to him, violet eyes followed the back of his head.

Two hours later, Alfred was grinning as he finished a cool down jog with his teammates. Sweat dribbled down his face and his glasses were halfway down the bridge of his nose.

"Good practice, boys! See you all tomorrow!" Coach Jack waved to all the players and walked off to the teacher parking lot.

Alfred grabbed his water bottle and downed whatever was left in it. He walked off with Gilbert and Ludwig to the locker rooms to shower and change.

After doing so, Alfred gave his goodbyes to the German brothers and walked home. The sun was hallway down the horizon, giving everything a slight orange glow. He walked a few blocks, feet thumping on the concrete sidewalk. He turned a corner and noticed the pale girl who was sitting next to Ivan during lunch on the porch of a very large, fancy house. What was disturbing was the fact that she was nonchalantly throwing small knives at a target set up on the opposite side of the porch.

Alfred gawked, nearly stopping in his steps. The girl swiftly turned her head at the passerby, another knife in her hand. Was this even legal?! Alfred quickened his pace that escalated into a terrified sprint. The girl resumed her target practice without a change in expression.

The blond American made it home, banging on the door for his brother to let him in. When Matthew opened the door, Alfred jumped in and sprawled on the floor. His chest heaved up and down as he tried to explain in choppy words. "Girl, scary- knives! Kill me—"

Matthew rubbed his temples and closed his eyes. "Alfred, I can't understand a word you're saying. Dad is going to late today. There's some leftovers in the fridge." Matthew explained what he needed to and went upstairs to his room.

Alfred rolled his eyes and stood up. He kicked off his red converse and slid into the kitchen, making a grab at the handle of the refrigerator. He stuck his nose inside, looking for the macaroni and cheese from dinner last night.

After heating it up, Alfred took his tub of food up the stairs and into his room. He decided to be responsible for once and took homework out of his backpack. With the scare of the knife-throwing girl over, he reminded himself of what Ivan said to him. Alfred plopped into his desk chair and stuck a spoon full of macaroni into his mouth.

Matthew always told him that he could do well in school if he actually tried. Alfred didn't care, much to his family's chagrin, so he didn't try. But now, Alfred _wanted_ to try. He needed to.

He flipped to page 6 in the physics textbook and began to read.


	3. Chapter 3

"Alfred?" Matthew whispered, sticking his head into Alfred's room. Matthew's face contorted in confusion when he saw that his brother was not in bed. Instead, he was on his desk, hunched over in an uncomfortable position. "We need to go to school." He put his hands on Alfred's shoulders and gently shook them.

"HUH WHAT?" Alfred sat straight up, nearly knocking Matthew back. Alfred's eyes were disorientated, looking around the room as if it had been his first time seeing it. Upon laying his eyes on the physics textbook in front of him, Alfred slumped in his chair and groaned. "Shit." he cursed and rubbed his eyes under his askew glasses. He had fallen asleep near the end of the reading, meaning that he didn't even get to problem worksheet or all his other homework.

"H-Hey we should probably get ready." Matthew glanced at the textbook. Alfred actually attempted to do his work? Matthew felt a mix of pride and worry. He wondered what had gotten into his brother.

"Yeah yeah I'll be there." Alfred slumped over the desk again, face completely flat on the table surface. How did he let himself fall asleep like that? Did the football practice drain him that much?

Matthew thought about shaking his brother again but decided to leave him alone. He walked out in silent footsteps, mulling over what he saw.

After about five minutes, Alfred started to pack up his unfinished work into his backpack. It was only the second day of school and he miserably failed to keep up with his work. Maybe this was why he never tried. It was because he would end up failing. Alfred paused as he was putting away his history homework. No, what was he thinking? He's "The Hero" for god's sake! Ivan challenged him, therefore Ivan was the villain. He wouldn't give up so easily! Alfred stood up and formulated a plan to finish the worksheet before first period started. Then, he rushed into the bathroom to get ready for school.

* * *

Alfred ran down the hall, scribbling in numbers onto a crinkled sheet of paper. It was a minute before the bell would ring, and time wasn't stopping for him.

Alfred entered the physics classroom right as the bell rang. He had managed to scrawl in the last numbers for his problem, 3 feet/second. Mrs. Gallagher pursed her lips at Alfred's entrance, but she could not mark him tardy since he technically did come on time. Alfred rushed into his seat, feeling satisfied as he stared at his completed homework.

"How about we start off class by exchanging papers with your partners and checking answers?" Mrs. Gallagher said as she rose from her desk chair. The smartboard revealed all the answers to the six problems. "Hopefully you all didn't experience too much trouble. Memorizing the kinetic equations could take time, but I believe in most of you."

Alfred's ears perked up at the phrase "most of you." He gave his crinkled paper to Ivan, who received it with hesitance. Ivan slid his worksheet over to Alfred. It was pristine; his handwriting was flawless and the paper had no sign of creases or folds. Alfred's worksheet, on the other hand, had messy handwriting that barely made it legible to read. Ivan frowned at the sight of Alfred's paper. Ivan didn't even look up at the smartboard to check Alfred's answers. He immediately crossed them all off, marking them wrong. Ivan's answers were correct.

"What? How did I get them wrong?" Alfred questioned angrily, pointing at his worksheet. There was no way he got all of the problems wrong!

Ivan sighed and rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Physics is done in the _metric_ system, Jones. You did not convert the values. Typical American." He gave back Alfred's worksheet and took back his. He did not glance back at the stricken blond.

"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME, COMMIE?" Alfred shouted, gathering the attention of the whole class.

"Russia has not been communist since 1991. Like I said, you are a typical American." Ivan's cool façade slightly wavered at Alfred's comment about communism. Ignorant insults like those were always thrown at him by American kids ever since he moved to the US.

"Look, commie dude. These answers are right, just in a different measurement system. Now fix my paper!" Alfred demanded. He couldn't stand the embarrassment of getting every single problem wrong.

Ivan tightened his jaw. "I do not enjoy repeating myself, Jones. Physics is done in the metric system."

"Quiet down, you two!" Mrs. Gallagher grimaced at the noisemakers. "Please turn in your papers, and we will review what you all read in the textbook."

Alfred reluctantly let go of his paper. This was completely unfair! He worked so hard! Even if he did fall asleep while doing it. He pouted and slumped in his chair. He was so worked up that he didn't bother taking notes in his notebook as Ivan was diligently doing so.

"As the textbook has mentioned, the net force, which means all the forces, equals mass times acceleration." Mrs. Gallagher wrote the equation on the whiteboard. "You can imagine something with large mass but with little acceleration equal something that has little mass but large acceleration. They would have the same force. Think of a mouse and an elephant if you need to." Mrs. Gallagher chuckled and was met with a few fake, awkward laughs from the students.

Alfred suddenly imagined himself as the mouse, small but with great acceleration. He was hurtling towards an elephant with a particularly large trunk. When in contact with the elephant, the elephant toppled over from the small mouse's force. He may have been small, but he had such great acceleration that its force was greater than the elephant's.

"Mr. Jones!"

Alfred awoke from his daydream. Ivan had a slight smirk on his face. That commie bastard!

" _Please_ pay attention to this. We are having a quiz in few days." Mrs. Gallagher then returned to the board.

Despite the reality of physics not quite working like Alfred's daydream, it was enough for Alfred to recover from his unit conversion mistake.

Now all he needed to do was copy notes from Mattie since he forgot to do so himself.

* * *

Sorry! This is super late and short! I'll try to update more regularly. My school is doing model UN and it is complete hell. So much researching ; - ;.


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